The Cards are Major League Baseball's National League champions after taking four of six games against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Here's what you need to know if (like us) you missed the game:

"Everything great about the Cardinals was on display in their third-inning rally."

That's how ESPN.com sums up the story of the night. In that third inning, the sports network says, the Cardinals were "at their relentless best, wearing down the best pitcher in baseball with a four-run, five-hit, 10-batter, 48-pitch grind-a-thon that was about to lead them back to the 19th World Series in franchise history."

St. Louis second baseman Matt Carpenter, the Times writes, "came to bat against a vulnerable Clayton Kershaw with one out and nobody on. Over the next five-plus minutes Carpenter saw 11 pitches, fouling eight of them off before finally hitting one fair into the right-field corner for a double. Four pitches later Carlos Beltran singled Carpenter home, the first score in a four-run rally ..."

The Cardinals now wait to see which team wins the American League championship. The Boston Red Sox have a 3-2 lead over the Detroit Tigers in their series. Game 6 of that matchup is Saturday evening in Boston.

The Red Sox-Tigers game is being broadcast by Fox, starting at 8 p.m. ET. If the Tigers win tonight, the teams would play a deciding Game 7 on Sunday — also on Fox and also at 8 p.m. ET.